her with pleafures, fhe very kindly-betrayed me to one of her former lovers at Oxford, by whofe ⚫ care and diligence I was immediately apprehended • and committed to gaol.

Here I first began feriously to reflect on the mifcarriages of my former life; on the errors I had been guilty of; on the misfortunes which I had brought on myfelf; and on the grief which I must have occafioned to one of the best of fathers. When • I added to all these the perfidy of my mistress, fuch was the horror of my mind, that life, instead of being longer defirable, grew the object of my abhorrence; and I could have gladly embraced death, as my dearest friend, if it had offered itfelf to my ⚫ choice unattended by fhame.

• The time of the affizes foon came, and I was removed by Habeas Corpus to Oxford, where I expected certain conviction and condemnation; but, to my great furprize, none appeared against me, and I was, at the end of the feffions, difcharged for want of profecution. In fhort, my chum had left Oxford, and whether from indolence, or from what other motive, I am ignorant, had declined concerning himself any farther in the affair.' Perhaps,' cries Partridge,

he did not care to

have your blood upon his hands, and he was in the right on't. If any perfon was to be banged upon my evidence, I fhould never be able to lie alone afterwards, for fear of feeing his ghoft.'

I fhall fhortly doubt, Partridge,' fays Jones. whether thou art more brave or wife.' You may laugh at me, Sir, if you pleafe,' anfwered Partridge; but if you will hear a very fhort flory which I can tell, and which is moft certainly true, perhaps you may change your opinion. In the parish where I was born- Here Jones would have filenced him; but the ftranger interceded that he might be permitted to tell his ftory, and in the mean time promiled to recollect the remainder of his own.

Partridge then proceeded thus. In the parish where I was born, there lived a farmer whose name was Bridle, and he had a fon named Francis, a good hop ful

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hopeful young fellow: I was at the grammar fchool ' with him, where I remember he was got into Ovid's Epiltles, and he could conftrue you three lines together fometimes without looking into a dictionary. Befides all this, he was a very good lad, never miffed church o' Sundays, and was reckoned one of the best pfalm-fingers in the whole parith. He would indeed now and then take a cup too much, ' and that was the only fault he had. Well,

but come to the ghost,' cries Jones.

• Never fear,

Sir, I fhall come to him foon enough,' anfwered Partridge. You must know then, that farmer 'Bridle loft a mare, a forrel one to the best of my ' remembrance; and fo it fell out, that this young 'Francis fhortly afterward being at a fair at Hindon, and as I think it was on-I can't remember the ' day; and being as he was, what should he happen to meet, but a man upon his father's mare. Frank 'called out prefently, Stop thief; and it being in the 'middle of the fair, it was impoffible, you know, 'for the man to make his escape. So they apprehended him, and carried him before the justice; I remember it was juftice Willoughby of Noyle, a very worthy good gentleman, and he committed him to prifon, and bound Frank in a recognizance, I think they call it, a hard word compounded of re and cognofco; but it differs in its meaning from the ufe of the fimple, as many other compounds do. Well, at laft, down came my Lord Juftice Page to hold the affizes, and fo the fellow was had up, ' and Frank was had up as a witness. To be sure I fhall never forget the face of the judge, when he began to ask him what he had to fay against the prifoner. He made poor Frank tremble and fhake ' in his fhoes. Well, you fellow,' fays my Lord, "what have you to fay? Don't ftand humming and 'hawing, but speak out;' but however he foon turn'ed altogether as civil to Frank, and began to thun'der at the fellow; and when he afked him, if he had any thing to fay for himself, the fellow faid he had found the horse. ́ ́Ay! answered the judge, *thou art a lucky fellow; I have travelled the circuit VOL. VIII.

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"these

thefe forty years, and never found a horse in my life; but I'll tell thee what, friend, thou waft "more lucky than thou didst know of: for thou didst

not only find a horse, but a halter too. I promise "thee. To be fure I fhall never forget the word. Upon which every body fell a laughing, as how could they help it? Nay, and twenty other jets he made, which I can't remember now. There was fomething about his fkill in horfe fleth, which made all the folks laugh. To be certain the judge 'must have been a very brave man, as well as a man of much learning. It is indeed charming sport to hear trials upon life and death. One thing I own I thought a little hard, that the prifoner's counfel was not suffered to speak for him, though he defired only to be heard one very fhort word; but my Lord would not hearken to him, though he suffered a counsellor to talk against him for above half an hour. I thought it hard, I own, that there fhould be fo ་ many of them; my Lord, and the court, and the jury, and the counsellors, and the witnesses, all upon one poor man, and he too in chains. Well, the fellow was hanged, as to be fure it could be no otherwife, and poor Frank could never be eafy ' about it. He never was in the dark alone, but he fancied he faw the fellow's fpirit.' Well, and is this thy ftory?' cries Jones. 'No, no,' answered Partridge; O Lord have mercy upon me.-I am 'juft now coming to the matter; for one night, coming from the alehouse in a long narrow dark lane, there he ran directly up against him, and the spirit ' was all in white, and fell upon Frank; and Frank, who is a sturdy lad, fell upon the spirit again, and there they had a tuffel together, and poor Frank was dreadfully beat: indeed he made a fhift at last to crawl home; but what with the beating, and what with the fright, he lay ill above a fortnight; and all this is most certainly true, and the whole parish will bear witness to it.'

The ftranger fmiled at this story, and Jones burst into a loud fit of laughter, upon which Partridge cried, "Ay, you may laugh, Sir, and fo did fome others, • parti

'particularly a 'fquire, who is thought to be no better than an atheift; who forfooth, because there 'was a calf with a white face found dead in the fame lane the next morning, would fain have it, that 'the battle was between Frank and that, as if a calf ́ would fet upon a man. Befides, Frank told me he knew it to be a fpirit, and could fwear to him in any court in Chriftendom, and he had not drank above a quart or two, or fuch a matter of liquor at the time. Lud have mercy upon us, and keep us all from dipping our hands in blood, I fay'

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Well, Sir,' faid Jones to the ftranger, Mr. Par'tridge hath finished his ftory, and I hope will give you no future interruption, if you will be fo kind 'to proceed.' He then refumed his narration; but as he hath taken breath for a while, we think it proper to give it to our reader, and fhall therefore put an end to this chapter.

CHAP. XII.

In which the Man of the Hill continues his hiftory.

HAD now regained my liberty,' faid the ftranger, but I had loft my reputation; for there is a wide difference between the cafe of a man who is barely acquitted of a crime in a court of juslice, 'and of him who is acquitted in his own heart, and in the opinion of the people. I was confcious of 'my guilt, and afhamed to look any one in the face, 'forefolved to leave Oxford the next morning, before: 'the day-light difcovered me to the eyes of any be

holders.

When I had got clear of the city, it first entered into my head to return home to my father, and endeavour to obtain his forgiveness; but as I had no reafon to doubt his knowledge of all which had past, and as I was well affured of his great averfion to all acts of dishonesty, I could entertain no hopes of being received by him, especially fince I was too certain of all the good offices in the power of my mother: nay, had my father's pardon been as fure,

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as I conceived his refentment to be, I yet queftion whether I could have had the affurance to behold him, or whether I could, upon any terms, have fubmitted to live and converfe with thofe, who, I was convinced, knew me to have been guilty of so bafe an action.

I haftened therefore back to London, the best re'tirement of either grief or thame, unlefs for perfons of a very public character; for here you have the advantage of folitude without its difadvantage, fince 'you may be alone and in company at the fame time; and while you walk or fit unobferved, noife, hurry, and a conftant fucceffion of objects, entertain the mind, and prevent the fpirits from preying on themfelves, or rather on grief or fhame, which are the moft unwholefome diet in the world; and on which (though there are many who never tafte either but in public), there are fome who can feed very plentifully, and very fatally when alone.

But as there is fcarce any human good without its concomitant evil, fo there are people who find ⚫ an inconvenience in this unobfei ving temper of mankind; I mean perfons who have no money; for as you are not put out of countenance, fo neither are you cloathed or fed by those who do not know you. And a man may be as easily starved in Leadenhall'market as in the deferts of Arabia..

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It was at prefent my fortune to be deftitute of that 'great evil, as it is apprehended to be by feveral writers, who I fuppofe were over-burthened with it, namely, Money.' With fubmiffion, Sir,' faid Partridge, 'I do not remember any writers who have ⚫ called it Malorum; but irritamenta Malorum Ef 'fodiuntur opes irritamenta Malorum. • Well, Sir,' continued the ftranger, whether it be an evil, or only the cause of evil, I was entirely void of it, and at the fame time of friends, and as I thought of acquaintance; when one evening as I was paffing through the Inner Temple, very hungry, and very • miferable, I heard a voice on a fudden haling me with great familiarity by my chriftian name, and upon my turning about, I presently recollected the 'perfon who fo faluted me, to have been my fellow'collegiate;